Alboin

Alboin (539-28 June 572) was King of the Lombards from 560 to 572, succeeding Audoin and preceding Cleph. Alboin was responsible for destroying the Gepids in Pannonia in 567, and, a year later, he led the Lombards into Italy, conquering northern Italy with ease. Only his assassination in 572 by Byzantine-backed Lombard nobles prevented him from advancing on to take Tuscany.

Biography
Alboin was born in Pannonia in 539, the son of Audoin and Rodelinda. He succeeded his father as King of the Lombards in 560, and he inherited his father's conflict with the Gepids. In 567, thanks to an alliance with the Avars, Alboin inflicted a decisive defeat on the Gepids, whose lands the Avars subsequently occupied. Alboin felt uneasy about the growth of the Avar Khaganate, so he decided to lead his people into Italy. In 568, the Lombards crossed the Alps and entered an almost undefended Italy, which was badly depopulated as the result of the Gothic War between the Byzantine Empire and the Ostrogoths. He rapidly conquered most of Venetia and Liguria, and he entered Milan unopposed in 569. Pavia took three years to capture, and Alboin made Pavia his capital after its conquest. Alboin planned to conquer Tuscany next, but factionalism among his supporters and his diminishing control over the army prevented him from doing so. On 28 June 572, he was killed in a coup instigated by the Byzantines.